Removing laminate from baseball cards
 

A good friend of mine found a bunch of old Morrell Meats cards he got decades ago that were buried in his garage. He knew I collected Dodgers and invited me over to show me - long story short they came home with me. :)

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...s48b767d7.jpeg

Unfortunately, the nicest four cards in the lot all had laminate on them. Go figure, right? He mentioned that he got them that way so they've been laminated for a while. I researched how I might remove the laminate and there was no clear answer. Some people were saying it was easy, others were saying leave it alone don't mess with them, they're stuck. Personally, I think the cards are cool even with the laminate but if I had a choice I would prefer them without. I know there's different types of laminate, this particular kind is not the kind that wraps around the card and adheres around the edges. These sonofaguns have the one-sided laminate that appears to have adhesive on the front of the card. I took the least expensive of the four (Furillo) and carefully pulled back one of the corners using needle nose pliers and it started out good but slowly started to remove some of the image as I moved closer to the center. Needless to say, I stopped. I would rather have laminated cards than destroyed cards. Someone on another board said I should try putting a pillow case over the card and use an iron to heat up and soften the adhesive. Before I do that I thought I would seek your guys' thoughts, thanks.

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps596840c3.jpg

They're already damaged. Even if you could remove the laminate they're still damaged (as indicated by the part you pulled back).

I say leave them as they are and enjoy them. You won't be able to improve the value of them by removing the laminate so why bother?

If you ever want to move the Furillo let me know.

+1 That would be my sentiment too. I enjoy looking at your scans. You can make a cucumber into a pickle but you can't change a pickle back into a cucumber, although many have tried.:)

This viewpoint is interesting. I'm wondering your reasoning in coming to this belief. If there is a way to remove the laminate without damaging the image of the card wouldn't this increase the value of the card? I would think that it would.

What are everyone's thoughts on the value of these cards if the laminate were left on? I know a card is only worth what somebody will pay for it, so please avoid that answer if you're able, I'm more interested in your personal opinions.

For example, a PSA7 of the Koufax sold a month ago on ebay for $300. In your opinion, what percent of that do you think this Koufax could fetch?

Lamination
 

Joe--I assumed they were just saying that if peeling off the lamination diminishes the appearance of the card further ( which your scan may seem to indicate) what would be the purpose ? If the lamination can be removed and the card appearance is not lessened then that would make total sense. But, in any event, they are your cards, have at them :)

Alright, let me start over - somehow this got sideways. I thought by typing this in my original post it showed that having damaged images by removing the laminate was pointless:

So...I agree with those that reiterated the point.

My motive for starting this thread, however, was to glean wisdom on how I might be able to remove the laminate WITHOUT damaging the cards. Does anybody know someone who does this professionally? Is the pillowcase/iron idea a good one? Is the value not diminished much by leaving the laminate on? These are the responses I seek (sincere tone - not being a smart ass).

youtube video
 

found this guy on youtube, just discovered he's a board member here...I'm hitting him up.

http://youtu.be/1ZgxVRSUC4A

Do NOT iron the cards. Heat will drive the adhesive into the paper. Your only potential solution is chemical. Naphtha [lighter fluid] can remove some adhesives. There is also a product called "un-du" that supposedly works but I've not tried it.

Thank you Adam...the ironing board is going back in the closet.

My guess would be there is no foolproof way to remove laminate from baseball cards. Laminating cards is not something that has commonly occurred so I'm betting there not a lot of "pre-trial testing" that has occured to even give you an idea of what the results might be.

Any solution comes with a risk of further damaging the cards. Even a real good solution will likely bring some problems with it. There is always a chance that it will work, however.

The question really goes to you. Are you willing to completely ruin the cards for a chance of removing the laminate?

if you are then go for it, if not, then let it be.

Microwave ? Boiling water ? Phoenix sidewalk ? We all want to be helpful Joe :)

Yes, that is indeed the question I've been weighing. Currently I'm leaning towards not taking that risk but I'm thinking that there's gotta be someone on net54 that has tried it at some point and has some feedback to share.

Funny Al, you seem refreshed, did you just get back from a month long vacation or something? I could use one myself.